LeaderworX is about building a community committed to reflecting on life, discerning a sense of calling, and the discovery of gifts. It is an opportunity to consider your direction in life and developing important skills to get there.

LeaderworX is a dynamic summer for young adults to:

Team photo

Team photo

Serve those in need

Live in Christian community

Participate in intentional faith formation

Deepen an understanding of Catholic Social Teaching

Promote peace and justice

Minister to and with youth

Discern a vocation

What to Expect

To be part of LeaderworX means to be part of a family that works together toward a mutual, important and complex goal. Not complex in the way that it is difficult, but complex in the sense that it brings about numerous opportunties, experiences of learning and growth beyond what you can imagine. LeaderworX is a group that leads programs for middle and high schoolers to experience various types of service. To be part of LeaderworX requires a lot of physical and internal energy, but in my experience, I was refueled by my fellow LeaderworX staff as well as the kids and the people I was serving. You live in community (In a house together) with your fellow LeaderworX members, and the experience is unique, challenging and so much fun. The entire LeaderworX experience has the chance to be so much for you. My advice: if you want to get the most out of your experience, drop your expectations.

There are two types of WorX programs: ServiceworX for middle schoolers, JusticeworX for high schoolers. Both of them are week-long retreats that, in addition to prayer and community time, focus primarily on service to others. Each week, you will be part of a team of people that will organize and facilitate one of these retreats at a variety of locations. The ServiceworX participants return home every day, so you will return to the CASA each day; the JusticeworX participants stay on site for the entire week, and you will be joining them. As a member of LeaderworX, it will be your responsibility to live and work together with your fellow LeaderworX members, prepare retreat locations for the summer, and organize and facilitate the events of each particular week with your staff for that week, which will usually involve your participation in things like leading group activities, guiding group discussions, and conducting service projects.

Expect to have the best summer of your life. You will meet incredible people in the people you work with, the people you encounter on trips, and the kids themselves. Expect long days and longer nights. It’s exhausting in so many ways, physical, emotional, spiritual but it is also gratifying. There will be so many more moments that will make you want to pull your hair out and cry than there will be gratifying ones, but those are the moments that will get you through another day. Expect to be challenged living in community, but expect to love those same people like a houseful of crazy siblings. Expect the kids to push you to your limits of patience and kindness, but then expect to miss those kids like crazy when the week is over, and come home bragging about your group. But then again, don’t expect anything. Come into the summer with an open mind and heart, and just be present to the entire experience.

It’s really challenging to give an image of what to expect, i can say that everyone should come with open hearts and minds and let the Holy Spirit flow through all aspects of the program. I feel like the whole point of the program is to grow with God and our Global Family through service and social justice conversation, so maybe everyone should expect that, to grow spiritually, emotionally, and your perceptions will be challenged!

Expect to be welcomed with open arms by community members and to embrace it even if it something you’re not used to. Also, expect a lot of activities meant to bring the LeaderworX community together on a deeper level. On JusticeworX, expect to be up from 7 am to around 12 am or later for a week straight, but being delirious is fun! Expect to not be able to get along with everyone, that is what happens.

This might sound silly, but try not to come in with any expectations. I really think an open mind is key to getting the most out of Leaderworx. That being said, it’s always helpful to have an idea of what you’re going to be doing this summer. Expect the unexpected (sounds cliché I know, but it’s true). Things are going to happen that you may not be ready for and may not expect, but don’t worry these are not only challenges, often they end up being the best gifts of the summer. On that note, expect to be challenged and pushed outside of your comfort zone. The positive outcomes from it are incredible. Really start to think about what it means to live in community, because it is such an important element of the summer. Expect to give a lot of yourself to others, but also expect to receive back all that those you work with and encounter will give to you. Expect hard work, some long nights, and lost sleep. Also expect to bond a lot with the other leaders and to make some great friends. Your faith may be challenged and tested, but hold to it. Make time to pray and remember that you are the hands and feet of Jesus. Share that love with all those that you meet. Expect to learn on the job! You go through training and community building that first formation week, but you really will learn the most during that first worx week. Expect to learn a great deal about the area, the world, others, and yourself. I hope you use this summer to discover what you’re most passionate about. Once you do, never forget it. This summer will be a great learning experience if you’re open to all that it has to offer.